Ramona La Roche is Vice President of the Charleston branch of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. She formerly served as Program Coordinator for the Jean Sampson Scott New York City chapter of the Afro American Historical and Genealogical Society from 1992 to 1999. She conducts genealogical workshops and research services, cultural arts training, related tours and event planning. She is a past participant and recipient of SC Arts Commission Institute of Community Scholars’ individual grant program.

Her collaborative work encompasses a wide variety of populations, such as youth services, educational institutions, and community development entities.

Her contracts include professional development for such entities as Mecklenburg County school K-12 art teachers at the Harvey B. Gannt Center in Charlotte, NC (funders Art & Science Council); conference presentations at the University of Texas at Austin and SC Art Educators Association annual meetings; Brookgreen Gardens, Murrells Inlet; Dreamkeepers Center, and First Steps, Georgetown, SC.

La Roche’s graduate work included her Healing Arts studies at Antioch University in San Francisco. She earned her professional degrees in Divergent Learning from Columbia College in South Carolina, a BFA degree, and an Art Therapy Certificate from the School of Visual Arts in New York City. She also holds state licensure and National Certification in Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork.

Her published literary works include – “A Day Trip to Georgetown”, College of Charleston Avery Research Center’s Charleston African American Visitors Guide, (2006); "Gullah Connections: Crossing Over, Passing, the Links Between The Worlds", exploring Gullah & Yoruba Funerary practices, in Orisa: Yoruba God & Spiritual Identity in Africa and the Diaspora, Toyin Falola and Ann Genova, editors, (2005); and Black America Series: Georgetown County, SC (2000).

A teaching artist, La Roche’s visual and literary art expresses the inner strength of African American women which emanates from the depth and most deepest core of the Earth. She states, “We stand on shoulders and experiences of our fore mothers and fore fathers. It is this connection to this internal core, we experience that which fuels our ability to carry and emanate the inner Light.

Contact:

Ramona La Roche, M. Ed.

Divergent Learning Specialist

www.gullahgal.com/ http://xeeme.com/RamonaLaRoche

ramonalaroche@gmail.com

Fallon N. Green is a first time author and is owner and operator of African American Genealogy with Fallon Green a South Carolina-based, family run, small press genealogical publishing company that specializes in producing study companions and reference tools geared towards African American family history researchers.

Fallon Green has over ten years experience doing Family History Research and is the online administrator of the The Gullah Diaspora Project, a beginning site for those requesting help searching Gullah Genealogies. This is a website dedicated to uniting all Gullah Descendants Worldwide by providing free guidance on family history research as well as by transcribing and indexing state and local records that are specific to the History of the Sea Islands and the cultural preservation of the American Story of the Gullah.

She is the Founding Member of the 2nd SC Chapter of the Sons and Daughters of the United States Colored Troops and is the online administrator of its flagship initiative, the previously mentioned, soon to be launched Gullah Diaspora Project 2012. Fallon Green currently works for the Foundation for the National Archives in Downtown Washington, DC and is an active member of several civic, research and volunteer groups within the city.

She is a Fourth Generation Descendant of Civil War Soldier Private Shedrick Manego, Company E of the 34th Regiment of the United States Colored Troops. Who fought in and participated in such engagements as The Battle of Honey Hill, The Combahee Ferry Raid and the Battle of Olustee. A Beaufort, SC contemporary of Robert Smalls, Shedrick Manigo himself would go on to "Preach the Pulpit" following the Civil War and would build the church that still stands today and serves his home community, Second Gethsemane Baptist Church.

Paul Garbarini

Paul Garbarini has been immersed on Charleston history since his arrival in 1997.

A strong interest in Southern decorative arts lead him to be named the first South Carolina Professional Associate in Furniture for the American Institute for Conservation.

Garbarini became a licensed Charleston Tour Guide in 2009 and opened Uniquely Charleston Tours. His business is built around designing custom tours, researching Charleston’s deep documentary treasures, and finding genealogical links in the Lowcountry.

Toni Carrier is the Founding Director of Lowcountry Africana and the USF Africana Heritage Project. She holds a Master’s degree in Applied Anthropology from the University of South Florida and has been researching in Lowcountry records for the past 12 years.

Past projects include research for the PBS series African American Lives 2, genealogy research on Michelle Obama's family tree on behalf of Obama for America, and research on enslaved families on Ball family plantations in SC for the Priscilla's Homecoming reunion in 2005.

For the past 5 years, she and the Lowcountry Africana crew have been conducting research on behalf of Magnolia Plantation and Gardens and Drayton Hall, to rebuild the lineages of enslaved families in SC, GA and FL. Lowcountry Africana, sponsored by the Magnolia Plantation Foundation of Charleston, SC, was awarded Drayton Hall’s Wood Family Fellowship and Toni Carrier and Lowcountry Africana Co-Director Robin Foster were awarded the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Charisse R. Cecil Internship for 2012, to extend the Drayton family research into postbellum times. Together, the studies on behalf of Magnolia Plantation and Gardens and Drayton Hall will cover the grand sweep of African American history on Drayton family plantations from Colonial times to the present.

Toni's special research interest is in finding and digitizing records to assist African American family history researchers in tracing ancestors back before the 1870 US Census.